He who is our Grandfather and Father has established a relationship with my people the Sioux. It is our duty to make a rite which should extend this relationship to the different people of different nations. May that which we do here be an example to others!

Through these rites a three-fold peace is established: The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere. It is within each of us. This is the real Peace, and the others are but reflections of this.

The second peace is that which is made between two individuals. And the third is that which is made between two nations.

But above all, you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.

�?Hehaka Sapa (Black Elk), Oglala Lakota Holy Man,
speaking on the Hunkapi (Making of Relatives Ritual).